Born and raised in Canada but now based in Nashville, Shae Dupuy is an up and coming singer-songwriter who seems marked for greatness. We are very proud to premiere her new single – Black and White – available everywhere tomorrow.
Off the Record is proud to bring you the premiere for the new track from Shae Dupuy – Black and White – out everywhere tomorrow. Listen below and read on for our interview with Shae about the track.
Happy release week, how excited are you to release this track to the world on Friday?
I’m really excited for this one, I’m releasing three tracks over the next couple of months and this is one of those songs that really hit home for me, when I was writing it I thought it was special.
Can you talk a bit about the inspiration behind the track?
The funny story about this song was we were finishing up writing for the recording project and I went in that day and I was supposed to be writing a few more uptempo songs. I thought ‘I have so many great sad songs that just pull on the heartstrings’ and I went in that day and thought I just don’t have the heart to write a happy song today, I’m going through a breakup and they were like ‘ok, let’s not write a happy song then.’ We wrote ‘Black and White’ – I told them about a conversation I had with my friend, where I said that I had wished it had been black and white, I wish there was a bad guy. I find sometimes it’s easier to get over a breakup when there’s a clear right or wrong, or there’s a reason or someone did something wrong. There wasn’t in this case, it was just two people who didn’t work out.
You wrote the song with two amazing songwriters – Kyle Rife and Jeremy Bussey – had you collaborated with them in the past or was this a whole new write and experience?
This was a whole new write, they’re both writers at Spirit, where the producer Derek Wells was, so he actually helped set that up because he was going to be producing the song. It was my first time writing with them and it’s always a little weird going into a first write, particularly because it was this sensitive topic that I was still going through. They were so good and it was so cool because I pitched them the idea and right away Jeremy pitches in with ‘why don’t we say, I kind of wished you drank too much and I kind of wish you were hard to love, I kind of wish I cheated and I kind of wish you cheated too’ and then the whole first verse was written.
Those co-writes are such a huge part of being in Nashville. I know you grew up initially in Canada, so how intimidating was it almost to move to Nashville and how much do you think Nashville has changed you as an artist?
It was so intimidating (laughs), especially because moving to Nashville required an immigration process, it wasn’t just like ‘hey, I’m just going to pack up my car,’ I had to be really sure, there were a lot of factors, so it was already a little daunting. I will say, I don’t think I’ve ever felt so at home in a place right away, I think there’s so much truth to that saying that Nashville is kind of like a small town in a big city, because the community is so intertwined and there’s this warmth that you don’t get in other musical areas. Everyone kind of wants to see each other grow, rather than seeing each other as competition, which is amazing. I think that as an artist I’ve grown, because there are so many great people, so it forces you to constantly elevate and to meet the standards that everyone else is setting.
Your roots are in Canada, so how important is that to you because I know there’s such a burgeoning scene in Canada.
I loved starting my career in Canada, I wouldn’t trade any of the connections or relationships I’ve made there, it’s made me who I am, I am so thankful to come from that place. I just recently went home for the first time since lockdown and I miss it. It’s hard having your heart in two places, there are so many talented people back home too. Canada’s country scene is so spread out, but in CCMA week when everyone comes together and everyone reunites, it’s so special.
You say you’ve got more releases coming – do you know what those are going to look like yet?
The next one that is coming out is actually called ‘Selfish’ so that comes out in August, it was actually the first written out of the three singles. ‘Selfish’ is an empowering track. I think as women we’re told that we can’t be selfish and being selfish is wrong and has such a negative connotation. I wanted to write a song where you spun it and wanted to put yourself first, I’m going to be selfish with my energy, my time and how much of myself I’m going to give away. It’s a song that I’ve needed to write and I think a lot of people can relate to that.
